How my approach to financial planning is different?


How I help my clients...

1. I am a 'Fee Only' financial planner and charge a flat fees for my services.

2. I have absolutely no tie ups with any financial services or financial products or real estate firm. Hence receive No commission from anywhere.

3. To avoid any apprehension like Conflict of interests, I Do not get involve in the implementation and administration of the recommendations I make. Clients are expected to do it on their own and take complete control of the situation gradually. 

4. I encourage clients to make candid comparison of products and services before implementing any recommendation.

5.  As a person of fiance, controlling costs comes fundamental to me. 
A rupee saved is a rupee earned!
Hence I encourage my clients to do the same like saving money in paying commissions by buying products directly from the source companies eg. Investing in direct mutual funds instead of regular ones (unless the need be).

6. Since clients are the center of the financial planning engagement, their convenience matters most.
(unless it is detrimental to their interests, which I, as their planner can see as the disadvantage for them). 
Hence, if clients have previous tie ups with any of the service provider and want to continue them, it is absolutely fine by me. 

7. My purpose is to help my clients sort out their personal finance and get peace of mind. We, client and I,  walk the journey together and discuss and solve the issues. I am dedicated to enable my clients and their families to take charge of their personal finance, consequently their lives! 
Consider me as your counselor along with being your financial planner! 

8. Since I am working independently and have no team...my clients deal directly with me...without any third party interference. 

9. With me, the clients are expected to be fully involved in the process and do the implementation meticulously (as per my experience, the planning fails otherwise)

10. I seriously encourage all adults of the client's family to take part in the discussions...including spouse, dependent parents and grown up children. 

11. During the Financial Planning exercise, we (client and I together) will  look into your goals, aspirations, responsibilities and limitations. We will take into account all aspects, personal, professional, physical and financial. Since all of them combine to form your Financial landscape and define how well can you use your hard earned money. 

12. Also I help clients understand that financial products are just an instrument to save and their over all outlook including emotional, plays a more significant role in your well defined personal finance. 

13. I understand that revealing your situation and financial details to someone unknown to you can be challenging and uncomfortable at times. Hence I encourage individuals interested in taking my services, to speak to my other clients, who (almost all of them) were previously unknown to me but took the leap of faith and chose me as their financial planner. 
As a CFP (Certified Financial Planner), I have taken oath to strictly adhere to maintain the Confidentiality of my client's identity and their situation. Nothing is revealed without their permission.

14. For the ease of working, I rely on technology and believe that it should be fully utilized. 
Like, 
Generally I encourage in person meetings at my office for the discussions but If that is not possible, then, 
 'Video Chat' can be used seamlessly. 

Also if sharing physical documents or scanned copies is not possible, they are welcome to share photograph on Whatsapp. (The chat is cleared as soon as the need is over)

15. To help my clients come prepared for our financial planning sessions, they get lists of documents to keep ready and some sheets to be filled before hand (depending upon the type of service they chose).

16. Taxation is usually part of the recommendations but for complex tax issues and regular tax filing, I recommend them to take help of a Tax consultant. This applies for Legal matters as well.

17. As a citizen, my contribution to the healthy environment and to the 'Digital India' initiative is by going fully Digital! My clients receive all communication digitally including Comprehensive Financial Plan in the PDF format.


18. I firmly believe that in today's world, we should be flexible and situation oriented in our approach towards life including personal finance, hence I encourage my clients to regularly (at least quarterly) review their physical, personal, financial and emotional situation and bring changes in their financial planning accordingly. (Even if they are not associated with me any longer)

19. To suit various individual needs, I have come up with three types of service offerings: ( and I am open for more customization)

1. http://shilpijohri.blogspot.in/p/services-hourly-consultation.html
2. http://shilpijohri.blogspot.in/p/new-service-offering.html
3. http://shilpijohri.blogspot.in/p/services.html


20. To avoid any confusion, there is absolutely no fees for our initial conversation regarding understanding of the service offering or understanding of your situation. Fees is charged only when we agreed to start the financial planning session. Also full fees is charged in advance.





No comments:

Post a Comment